CARVER v COUNCIL OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF NSW [1999] NSWCA 17

New South Wales Court of Appeal CITATION : CARVER v COUNCIL OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF NSW [1999] NSWCA 17 FILE NUMBER(S) : CA 40078/99 HEARING DATE(S) : 5 February; 1999 JUDGMENT DATE : 5 February 1999

PARTIES : PETER G CARVER COUNCIL OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES JUDGMENT OF : Mason P at 1

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : Administrative Decisions Tribunal (Legal Division) LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : LOWER COURT JUDICIAL OFFICER :

COUNSEL : P Carver (in person) (Appellant) D Robinson (Respondent) SOLICITORS : Star Carver & Co (Appellant) 170 Phillip Street (Respondent) CATCHWORDS : ACTS CITED : Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 Legal Profession Act 1987 DECISION : Dismissed

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CA 40078/99 MASON P Friday 5 February 1999

PETER G CARVER v COUNCIL OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR: The claimant, Mr Carver, is the appellant in proceedings commenced by way of notice of appeal without appointment on 4 February 1999. There may be a question about the competency of that appeal having been brought without grant of leave but that is not a matter of present concern. 2 The claimant sought leave to file in court, returnable forthwith, a notice of motion seeking as its substantive order the staying of pending proceedings in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (Legal Division) until the resolution of the appeal. Those proceedings are listed to commence on Monday next and I was informed, I believe, that they are expected to take about a fortnight. 3 The proceedings commenced in one sense in 1994 when the Law Society of New South Wales laid an information before the Legal Services Tribunal. The charges in that information came for hearing before the Tribunal in 1996. 4 In the course of and arising out of that hearing, additional grounds of complaint were filed. It was charged that in a number of instances Mr Carver, who had given evidence before the Tribunal, had misled or attempted to mislead the Tribunal. The proceedings in 1996 culminated in an order made on 23 December 1996 striking off the appellant. The appellant appealed to this court and his appeal was successful, see Carver v The Law Society of New South Wales (1998) 43 NSWLR 71. 5 Because of denial of procedural fairness involving the fact that one of the members of the Legal Services Tribunal had been involved in the initial laying of the charges, this court upheld Mr Carver's appeal and set aside the orders made by the Legal Services Tribunal on 23 December 1996. It was ordered that: The complaints the subject of the information laid by the respondent with the Legal Services Tribunal on 16 October 1994 and the additional grounds of complaint filed with the Legal Services Tribunal on 23 April and 7 July 1996 be remitted to the Legal Services Tribunal for rehearing.